1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal equipped with a television (TV) telephone function and in particular to a photographed image process changeover apparatus controlling an image process for a photographed image that has been taken by a camera comprised by a portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals such as portable telephones have been equipped with a number of functions in recent years. A representative function is a TV telephone (noted as “video telephone” or “video phone” hereinafter) function.
The video phone function (e.g., an optical system such as a camera) equipped in a portable terminal is designed on the premise that a user will hold the portable terminal in her/his hand(s) and use it in a manner such as near their face.
In such a case, a camera equipped with a standard- or wide-angle optical system, such as a system having a 40-degree angle of field or greater, is employed in order to photograph a face close to the camera in an appropriate size. Therefore, if a face, i.e., a photography target (also “photo target” hereinafter), is photographed by a camera placed at a distance, the ratio of the size of the face to the size of the person in the photograph is small in most cases.
Therefore, if the portable terminal is used in a user's hand(s), the face of the person in the image screen will be an appropriate size, while if the portable terminal is placed on a desk or such when talking on the phone, the ratio of the size of the face to the entire body of the person in the photo image screen becomes too small, hence making it difficult to discern facial expression.
Meanwhile, the video phone function of a portable terminal allows image processes such as cancelling the blurring of an image screen due to camera shaking and transmitting, to a correspondent terminal, a cut out and enlarged face part within an image screen, which is recognized by utilizing the techniques of recognizing a person's position or facial position. Performing image processing generally requires a high processing capacity, needing large power consumption.
Reference patent document 1 has disclosed an image display control apparatus used for a video conference terminal for appropriately displaying a person's image by detecting the person securely and creating an easily viewable image display even when the person moves.
Reference patent document 2 has disclosed an image pickup apparatus aiming at a high-quality camera shake correction function while securing a sufficient cutout positional accuracy.
Reference patent document 3 has disclosed a portable information terminal apparatus equipped with the function of preventing video image blurring when camera shaking occurs and that of changing over a display to the photographed video image of a photo target in order to have a user recognize inappropriateness of the photography angle.
Patent document 1: Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-051755
Patent document 2: Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-266391
Patent document 3: Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-156849